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6 injured in Chinese station attack
5/6/2014 4:21:15 AM
- The violence took place at a railway station in Guangzhou city in southern China
- A bombing at a station in western China last week killed one and injured about 80
- There has been a rise in separatist violence in restive Xinjiang province
(CNN) -- Men with knives attacked travelers at the Guangzhou Train Station Plaza in southern China, injuring six people, police said Tuesday.
All of the injured were taken to the hospital for treatment.
Police said they shot and captured one of the attackers.
The incident comes less than a week after bombing and knife attacks at a rail station in western China killed one person and injured nearly 80 others, Xinhua reported. Two suspects, described as religious extremists, also died.
The attacks took place Wednesday at Urumqi South Railway Station in restive Xinjiang province. Police said "knife-wielding mobs" attacked people at one of the station's exits following an explosion.
There has been a rise in separatist violence in the autonomous region in the northwest of the country.
READ: 3 killed, 79 hurt in blast, knife attack at China train station
READ: March: Knife-wielding attackers kill 29, injure 130 at China train station
Egypt's el-Sisi: I'll end Brotherhood
5/6/2014 10:00:56 PM
- In a TV interview, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi says it was his duty to run for President
- He vows to finish off the Muslim Brotherhood if elected
- Egyptians will head to the polls to pick a new President later this month
(CNN) -- Egypt's former military chief doesn't mince words when he describes what would happen if he wins this month's presidential vote.
In a taped interview broadcast on Egyptian satellite networks Monday, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi vowed to finish off the Muslim Brotherhood if he's elected, arguing that's what his country's people want.
And he said he had no choice but to run for President.
"Due to the challenges facing Egypt and the targeting of Egypt from inside and outside of the country ... any responsible patriot has a duty toward his country and its future, and has the opportunity to come forward to protect this country, and this people, and their future," el-Sisi said.
The second part of the interview is due to air Tuesday.
El-Sisi deposed Egypt's first freely elected leader, President Mohamed Morsy of the Muslim Brotherhood, last year following mass protests against Morsy's rule.
The officer is popular among Egyptians who supported the army's decision to remove Morsy from power. His supporters see him as the kind of strongman needed to end the turmoil dogging Egypt since a popular uprising ended Hosni Mubarak's three decades of one-man rule in 2011.
But el-Sisi is reviled by the Islamist opposition, which sees him as the mastermind of a coup against an elected leader and the author of a fierce crackdown on dissent.
In Monday's interview, he said there had been two attempts to assassinate him, but that didn't stop him from wanting to run for President.
"I believe in fate," he said. "I am not afraid."
He appeared relaxed in the interview, talking about his children and saying his wife had urged him to seek election.
El-Sisi resigned from his military post in March to run for the presidency.
He'll face just one challenger at the polls, Hamdeen Sabahi, who also had harsh words for the Muslim Brotherhood when he spoke to CNN last month, accusing the group of being "responsible for bloodshed and sponsoring terrorism in Egypt."
But Sabahi said he would scrap a controversial law enacted last fall and backed by el-Sisi, which places severe restrictions on demonstration in Egypt.
"I will issue a law that protects and regulates, not prevents, demonstration. And I will release all the innocent people who were convicted according to this unconstitutional law, and particularly college students in Egypt who were angry because of the excessive force used by the police," he said.
In Monday's interview, broadcast on the Egyptian satellite channels CBC and ONTV, el-Sisi defended the protest law, saying that "irresponsible" demonstrations threaten the state.
Egyptians are scheduled to head to the polls to vote for President on May 26 and 27. Parliamentary elections will be held soon afterward, but dates have not yet been determined, Egypt's state-run Ahram Online reported Monday.
READ: Opinion: For many Egyptians, there is no alternative but el-Sisi
READ: Egypt's El-Sisi to resign, paving way for presidential bid
CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq, Saad Abedine and Marie-Louise Gumuchian contributed to this report.
Pakistan grapples with polio fight
5/6/2014 10:04:29 PM
- India celebrated its polio-free certification in late March
- Its neighbor Pakistan grapples with polio efforts with several cases reported in 2014
- World Health Organization recommends emergency measures in Pakistan
- Pakistan has public health challenges including tribal areas, threats to health workers
(CNN) -- More than a month ago, the public health community celebrated the polio-free certification of Southeast Asia including India, viewed as a hopeful step toward global eradication.
But the euphoria has waned as concerns grow the virus is making a comeback and re-appearing in countries that had previously eliminated the disease within their borders.
Pakistan has seen major challenges in recent years, reporting 80% of polio cases this year.
The country faces challenges within its health system including restricted access to its federally administered tribal areas and violence against polio campaign health workers. Vaccine workers have been tortured, shot, bombed, and even have had their family members kidnapped.
"You have disruption of health services, vaccination services are broken where areas are no-go because there is mistrust and health teams are not allowed within the conflict area," said Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta, who is co-director of The Hospital for Sick Children in Canada and also works in Pakistan. "In that particular circumstance, to imagine that business would be as usual is naïve."
While Pakistan faces hurdles, India's polio program has been lauded as a model for tackling polio.
India's program "was largely internally funded, strongly managed," said Bhutta.
Once considered the hardest place to end polio, India boosted disease surveillance and immunization efforts to vaccinate hard-to-reach communities. To counter rumors and misgivings about the vaccine, social mobilizers, religious leaders and parents were included to increase understanding about immunizations.
"In Pakistan, that political will in terms of making this a national priority hasn't existed," Bhutta said. "They haven't invested enough in routine immunizations, which are critical to eradicating polio. You've got to get people aware of the importance of preventive strategies."
In 2014, the World Health Organization confirmed 74 new cases of polio -- 59 of them were in Pakistan. Within Pakistan, 46 of these cases have been from its restive Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which is located along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and retains internal autonomy.
The country with the second highest number of polio cases is Afghanistan, which reported four cases. But all of these are related to viruses that originated from Pakistan, according to the WHO.
Emergency measures recommended
On Monday, the WHO recommended emergency measures for three of the countries deemed as the greatest risk for further exporting the virus -- Syria, Cameroon and Pakistan.
The organization called for residents of these countries to get vaccinated and show proof of polio immunization before international travel. It also calls for the head of state to declare polio a national public health emergency.
"If the situation as of today and April 2014 went unchecked, it could result in failure to eradicate globally one of the world's most serious vaccine preventable diseases," said Dr. Bruce Aylward, assistant director-general for polio, emergencies and country collaboration at the WHO.
Pakistan has been establishing vaccination booths at its land borders with Afghanistan, China, India and also Iran, according to the WHO.
Zulfiqar Bhutta, Hospital for Sick Children in Canada
Bhutta said he wasn't surprised by the WHO's move, but worried the recommendation was a "Band-Aid measure" that's "not going get to the root of the problem."
This may divert the vaccines and human resources from Pakistan communities that need them the most, to the huge number of travelers, Bhutta said. "I'm concerned that will take away from the main polio control program and that's the last thing anybody wanted."
Pakistan is considered the only country that is "off track" in meeting its target to stop polio transmission, according to the WHO.
Militants in Pakistan have targeted anti-polio campaigns since U.S. intelligence officials used a fake vaccination program to aid their hunt for Osama bin Laden in 2011. Since then, militant groups, with connections to the Pakistani Taliban, have been opposing polio vaccinations and accusing health workers of pursuing a political agenda. Dozens have been killed in acts of violence carried out against polio vaccine workers.
Pakistan has tried to protect its health workers from violence. In Peshawar, authorities banned the riding of motorcycles during vaccine campaigns to prevent attacks, said Aylward.
Polio, which can cause permanent paralysis in hours, has been reported in 10 countries: Afghanistan, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Israel, Somalia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Cameroon and Syria.
READ: WHO sounds alarm on polio spread
Is ANC losing respect?
5/6/2014 10:37:43 PM
- South Africa's fifth democratic elections are held this Wednesday - first since Nelson Mandela's death
- President Jacob Zuma is most divisive figure in South African politics today, says Justice Malala
- Malala: Several scandals have wracked his administration since he came to power in 2009
- He predicts Zuma will win power, but ANC will lose share of the vote
Editor's note: Justice Malala is a South African political commentator, newspaper columnist and talk show host. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
Johannesburg (CNN) -- Sunday could not have begun any better for South Africa's ruling African National Congress, the party of Nelson Mandela. As the autumn sun rose and warmed the seats of the 95,000-seater, calabash-shaped FNB Stadium, supporters poured in from across the country.
By mid-morning the stadium was packed to the rafters. The beautiful, melodic songs used by activists through the years of struggle against apartheid until 1994 when Mandela was voted into power filled the stadium. Party activists crowed about the party's pulling power: no other political party in the country has yet managed to fill the stadium.
This was the last political rally before new South Africa's fifth democratic elections are held. All the major parties staged political rallies, but the ANC sought to present a show of force as it attempts to swat off challenges from the relentless opposition Democratic Alliance and the upstart, Left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters launched a few months ago by expelled former ANC Youth leader Julius Malema.
Then the ANC's leader, President Jacob Zuma, rose to address the packed stadium. Within half an hour of his plowing into a statistics-laden speech, nearly half the stadium seats were empty. A laborious and monotonous speaker at best, Zuma struggled through the speech, igniting only a few rounds of applause from die-hard supporters in the hour-long delivery. It was only at the end, when he burst into his election signature song Yinde Lendlela ("This Road Is Long," as opposed to his other favorite, "Give Me My Machine Gun") that some energy returned to the crowd.
The scandal-soaked Zuma -- who was booed in front of U.S. President Barack Obama, Cuba's Raul Castro and other world leaders at the same stadium on December 10 last year during the memorial service for Nelson Mandela -- has become the most divisive figure in South African politics today and the pivot around which electioneering and questions about the country's future have swung. As he spoke, a scandal about the national ombudsman's report into how he unduly benefited from the building of a $25 million palace for him at his rural KwaZulu Natal village was intensifying. A $200 million town is also being built near his home, claimed a newspaper.
Other scandals have wracked his administration since he came to power in 2009. Questions continue to be raised about his closeness to an Indian family that employs his son and wife and which landed a private jet filled with 200 wedding guests from India at a top-security military base; his evasion of more than 700 charges of fraud and corruption due to the influence of intelligence services and numerous suspect business connections by members of his family.
In all these cases, Zuma has said that he did not know and that people abused his name to gain favor.
Yet, despite the cocktail of scandals and gaffes that engulf Zuma, there is no doubt here that the ANC will win the election on Wednesday and Zuma will be returned to the presidency. According to a South African Sunday Times poll released on May 4, the ANC will get 63.9% of the vote, down from the 65.9% the party won in the 2009 general election. The opposition DA will increase its support to 23.7% while Malema's EFF party is expected to get 4.7%.
If there is so much disenchantment with Zuma, then, why is he headed for victory? History, for one. In Zuma's speech on Sunday he went through a long list of achievements by the ANC in the 20 years of democracy. It is an impressive roll call: ubiquitous access to water, electricity and health services. About 16 million people are now on social grants while there is universal access to no-fee schools. The dignity of full citizenship has been restored to blacks like me, a powerful, deep act that resonates with many. We still enjoy a free and vigorous press, despite iniquitous new legislation waiting to be enacted by Zuma that will criminalize much newsgathering.
Yet this narrative -- which the ANC has harnessed in its election slogan: "We have a good story to tell" -- is incomplete. Violent strikes over poor services are on a sharp increase, with the SA Police Services reporting a total of 569 protests in three months in South Africa's wealthiest province, Gauteng. About 122 of these turned violent.
Reports of corruption are on the increase, with Transparency International's 2013 global Corruption Perception Index showing that South Africa has dropped 17 places since Zuma came to power in 2009. South Africa is currently ranked 72 out of 175 countries.
The economy is taking a beating under Zuma, with paltry GDP growth of 1.9% last year and unemployment at 24.1% (narrowly defined) or a staggering 36% if one includes those who have given up looking for work. The EFF has found fertile ground among these disaffected youth, with an estimated 30,000 young people turning up to listen to Malema giving his final election speech on Sunday.
Justice Malala
So what happens after Wednesday? Increasingly, South Africa feels like a country caught between its past and its future. For many, the ANC represents the triumph against a heinous apartheid system. The memory of Mandela, so central to that victory, is still fresh. Leaving this party of freedom, which has enjoyed near 70% majorities in the late 1990s and early 2000s, feels like a betrayal of the struggle for freedom.
Yet, slowly, all that is changing. A 63% win by the ANC, for example, will mean that the party is experiencing its second significant decline in two successive elections. With the growing discontent about its government, it is unlikely that it will claw back these losses at the next election in 2019.
The opposition DA, for long regarded as a "white party," is swiftly transforming. Advised by Barack Obama and Bill Clinton's former pollster, Stan Greenberg, it has encouraged the emergence of credible young black leaders. The EFF, in just five months, has become a force to be reckoned with. But both parties are only likely to give the ANC a real run for its money in the 2019 and 2024 elections.
Many are hoping that the ANC will get a scare in these elections and begin to reflect on some of its failures. Among these would be assessing the damage done to the party by Zuma's scandals, and a return to some regard for the people. Indeed, speculation is rife that Zuma may be ousted should the ANC's showing in this election fall to 60%.
That is unlikely. Zuma controls about 75% of the ANC's national executive committee, and it is unlikely that his allies in that powerful body would cut him loose. Given that scenario, he will continue to inflict damage on the party of Mandela -- and on the nation's fortunes.
That would open the window for a stronger challenge from the opposition in 2019 and beyond. On the other hand, President Zuma could attempt to introduce serious economic reforms to build a proud legacy for himself. That, too, seems unlikely.
And so South Africa finds itself caught in a slow, glacial even, journey towards a multi-party future. Loyalty to its past heroes continues to hold it hostage.
Is U.S. really clueless about rape?
5/6/2014 10:39:42 AM
- A judge gave light sentence to young man who admitted raping a 14-year-old
- Carol Costello says rape is not an 'error in judgment', it's a crime
- She says judges and others seem to have difficulty grasping definition of rape
- Costello: Rape discussion often centers around the victim, rather than perpetrator
Editor's note: Carol Costello anchors the 9 to 11 a.m. ET edition of CNN's "Newsroom" each weekday. Watch the 10 a.m. ET hour of Newsroom Tuesday for a segment on this topic. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- It's 2014, yet many Americans -- including a sitting judge -- apparently don't know how to define rape. They find it difficult to figure out who is an actual victim. They can't even figure out who's a rapist.
Even when the accused pleads guilty to...rape.
I'm not kidding.
It happened in Dallas County, Texas.
A young man named Sir Young admitted, in court, to forcing himself on a 14-year-old classmate.
Young's attorney, Scottie Allen, said the girl expressed interest in having sex with Young, "just not on school grounds."
Apparently Young couldn't wait. As his attorney put it: "he made a very, very bad judgment," and ignored the victim's objections and admitted that to police.
Fancy that! Rape, a "bad judgment."
Apparently that's not out of the realm of sound judicial thinking because Judge Jeanine Howard agreed. She sentenced Young to deferred probation and community service because -- wait for it -- it was partly the victim's fault.
Howard told the Dallas Morning News the girl -- who was in junior high school -- wasn't a virgin and had given birth to a baby.
If that's an invitation to rape, is every girl or woman who's had sex or had a baby fair game?
"Rape is the only crime in which we turn the lens onto the survivor, the victim, and not onto the perpetrator," said Bobbie Villareal, executive director of the Dallas Rape Crisis Center. "When someone gets shot, we don't ever ask them, why didn't you get away from that bullet?"
Lest you think that judge in Texas is the only person on earth who's confused about rape, she's not.
From former Rep. Todd Akin's assertion there's such a thing as "legitimate rape" (as opposed to illegitimate rape?) to Whoopi Goldberg's claim that director Roman Polanski's assault on a 13-year-old girl wasn't "rape-rape," to a defense attorney in Cleveland who called an 11-year-old gang rape victim "a spider" who lured men into her web, all seemed really, really confused about whether a crime even occurred.
Perhaps one of the worst examples happened in Montana. District Judge G. Todd Baugh proclaimed a 14-year-old victim, who committed suicide before the trial started, "older than her chronological age" and "probably as much in control of the situation as the defendant."
The defendant in this case, the girl's 31-year-old teacher, Stacy Dean Rambold. Baugh sentenced Rambold to 15 years, then suspended all but 31 days.
Sure, Rambold's sentence was overturned, but only after massive public outcry.
It's 2014. Why are such things still happening?
Rape is not a "lapse in judgment." And who cares, defense attorney Allen, if an admitted rapist is "very talented, very gifted," and had scholarship offers?
Rape is a crime.
Is murder a "lapse in judgment" that could spoil a killer's bright future?
America actually seems a bit squeamish about calling someone a rapist. Perhaps because there is a perception that women often accuse men unfairly.
Except that's not true. According to a 2012 Justice Department Study, just 4.9% of rape allegations were unfounded.
Opinion: Rape cases -- when judges just don't get it
Jessica Valenti, a feminist writer for the Guardian says it's more complicated than that. She writes: "Part of the problem is that America has never had a clear, accepted cultural definition of what rape is.
Even legal definitions have been confusing. It took until 2013 for the FBI to change its 1929 definition of rape from "the carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly and against her will" to the new version: "Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim."
Perhaps the new definition will help. But I'm not convinced. What explanation can there be for sitting judges in separate states to place partial blame on two 14-year-old girls for their own sexual assault?
Unless they believe as Humbert Humbert did in Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita," a book about a grown man who "fell in love" with a 12-year old girl: "... it was she who seduced me," he said.
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About the GOP's Benghazi obsession
5/6/2014 11:30:14 AM
- Sally Kohn: GOP has been desperately "politicizing" Benghazi since it happened
- Kohn: In the fog of attacks, administration reported what it believed was happening
- Pentagon fed up with repetitive, costly GOP requests, 13 hearings, 50 briefings, she says
- Kohn: Benghazi investigations proved GOP wrong over and over, yet GOP will not drop it
Editor's note: Sally Kohn is a CNN political commentator, progressive activist and columnist. Follow her on Twitter @sallykohn. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- What happened in Benghazi, Libya, was a tragedy -- not a scandal. And no amount of Republican witch hunting or wishful thinking will make it otherwise.
Now a new e-mail "reveals" what was already plainly known, that the White House participated in crafting talking points in the aftermath of attacks in Libya and around the globe. Republicans claim the White House "politicized" the talking points. The irony, of course, is that Republicans have been desperate to politicize Benghazi from day one. Fueled by the relentless conservative message machine, it can be hard to have a reasonable discussion about Benghazi, one that relies on facts. So let's try to have that conversation here.
What exactly are the Republican accusations regarding Benghazi?
The main Republican critique appears to be that the White House and State Department politicized talking points given to U.N Ambassador Susan Rice, who spoke about the attacks on American TV five days later. Republicans argue the White House deliberately downplayed the involvement of al Qaeda and played up the spontaneous nature of the protests as a reaction to an anti-Islam video, to avoid tarnishing President Obama's national security record in advance of the 2012 presidential election. This, despite the fact that the White House talking points matched those produced by the CIA.
Republicans also have criticized the Obama administration for not responding to the attacks more aggressively when they happened, though a bipartisan Senate investigation found that military resources simply weren't in position to help. Similarly, Rep. Darrell Issa, the Republican most aggressively pressing Benghazi accusations, says he has "suspicions" that Hillary Clinton gave "stand down" orders to stop military resources from deploying to Benghazi even though a Republican report to the Armed Services Committee says that no such "stand down" order was issued.
In addition, Republicans have criticized the Obama administration for not doing more to prevent the attacks, such as beefing up consular security. Yet it was the same House Republicans who initially denied the Obama administration's request for additional embassy security funding.
What do we believe actually happened that night in Benghazi?
The answer to that question depends on when you're asking it. We know that the killing of four Americans on September 11, 2012, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, was in part the result of pre-coordinated terrorist activity. According to an extensive investigation by The New York Times, "The attack does not appear to have been meticulously planned, but neither was it spontaneous or without warning signs." The Times also reports that the attack was "fueled in large part by anger at an American-made video denigrating Islam."
But in critiquing the Obama administration's comments in 2012 in the moments during and after the Benghazi attack, what would seem more relevant is what the White House and intelligence community reasonably believed was happening.
After all, at the same time as the unrest in Benghazi, violent outbursts very clearly in reaction to the anti-Islam video were going on in Egypt, Yemen and Sudan. The night of the Benghazi attacks, Al Jazeera reported they appeared to be spontaneous protests against the anti-Islam film.
Of course we don't know the classified intelligence, but it would not seem preposterous to believe what was happening in Benghazi was more spontaneous protests rather than pre-planned terrorism. And even if affiliates of al Qaeda were suspected to be involved, it's not surprising that the intelligence community would not want to show its hand amid active efforts to track and capture those responsible. It was the CIA that removed the reference to al Qaeda, according to e-mails released to CNN by the White House.
Here is what Susan Rice said, four days later, that in retrospect seems so wildly misleading to conservatives:
"Our current best assessment based on the information that we have at present is that, in fact, what this began as was a spontaneous, not a premeditated, response to what had transpired in Cairo. In Cairo, as you know, a few hours earlier, there was a violent protest that was undertaken in reaction to this very offensive video that was disseminated.
"We believe that folks in Benghazi, a small number of people, came to the embassy to—or to the consulate, rather—to replicate the sort of challenge that was posed in Cairo. And then, as that unfolded, it seems to have been hijacked, let us say, by some individual clusters of extremists who came with heavier weapons, weapons that, as you know, in the wake of the revolution in Libya, are quite common and accessible. And it then evolved from there."
That seems not only responsibly cautious in the wake of a complicated and still-unfolding national tragedy, but strikingly accurate.
But the talking points were edited! For political motivations!
That's what talking points are, they are the way political figures on both sides of the aisle attempt to tell the facts in the most favorable light. That said, the CIA gave both parties in Congress the same "talking points" it prepared for Rice. And, as noted, there are plausible national security reasons for not wanting to show our entire intelligence hand amid an active investigation.
This responsible caution stands in direct contrast, for instance, to the Bush administration deliberately distorting not only talking points but also actual intelligence reports for political purposes to justify the war in Iraq. Or consider that just hours after the Benghazi killings, even before the White House had made a statement, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney condemned the Obama administration's response. Those talking points were definitely political.
The talking points not only seem consistent with events on the ground at the time but with what we now know, per The New York Times and several congressional reports. Yet that hasn't stopped Sen. John McCain from suggesting that editing talking points amounted to a "cover-up" and Rep. Eric Cantor from saying the White House "misled" the American public.
Can't we have an honest, open investigation and settle this once and for all?
We have. Several times. And then some. So far, Politico reports, Republican congressional investigations on Benghazi have included "13 hearings, 25,000 pages of documents and 50 briefings." In a letter written in March 2014 responding to a request for information from a ranking Democrat in the House Armed Services Committee, the Pentagon notes:
"The department has devoted thousands of man-hours to responding to numerous and often repetitive congressional requests regarding Benghazi, which includes time devoted to approximately 50 congressional hearings, briefings and interviews which the department has led or participated in. The total cost of compliance with Benghazi-related congressional requests sent to the department and other agencies is estimated to be in the millions of dollars."
A bipartisan report by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence determined that "there were no efforts by the White House or any other executive branch entities to 'cover-up' facts or make alterations for political purposes." The report did say the attack could have been prevented and blamed the State Department, military and U.S. intelligence community for failing to do so.
What difference does it make?
Great question. And one taken from a quote by Hillary Clinton, made during her testimony on Benghazi to the House Oversight Committee. Conservatives use the line to suggest that Clinton is callous toward the loss of life in Benghazi. No. Here's the full context:
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin: "No, again, we were misled that there were supposedly protests and that something sprang out of that -- an assault sprang out of that -- and that was easily ascertained that that was not the fact, and the American people could have known that within days and they didn't know that."
Clinton: "With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided that they'd go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again.
"Now, honestly, I will do my best to answer your questions about this, but the fact is that people were trying in real time to get to the best information. ... But you know, to be clear, it is, from my perspective, less important today looking backward as to why these militants decided they did it than to find them and bring them to justice, and then maybe we'll figure out what was going on in the meantime."
"I take responsibility," Clinton said four days after the Benghazi attacks, before Susan Rice ever said a word. "I do feel responsible," Clinton reiterated at the hearings in January 2013. When things went wrong in Benghazi, the Obama administration took responsibility.
But when Republicans have the facts wrong on Benghazi, they don't do the responsible thing and drop it. They keep pursuing their partisan witch hunt, wasting millions of taxpayer dollars desperate to smear Obama and 2016 presidential front-runner Clinton with anything that will stick.
The facts on Benghazi simply do not undercut the Obama administration, but that won't stop Republicans from digging for mud.
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Thai PM dismissed by court for abuse of power
5/7/2014 2:16:40 AM
- Thailand's prime minister has been ousted from office by a court ruling
- The court said she had abused her position by removing national security chief from post
- The move throws Thailand into deeper political turmoil
- Deputy PM Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan will be nominated as the new PM
Bangkok (CNN) -- Thailand's Constitutional Court has dismissed caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from office, ruling that she is guilty of violating the country's constitution for reassigning a senior security official in 2011.
"The defendant has abused her position as prime minister," said the judge in the ruling. "Her prime ministership has ... ended."
The court ruled that nine cabinet ministers who attended a meeting over the decision to transfer the official were also to be removed from office.
Deputy PM and Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan has been nominated by the cabinet as the next caretaker prime minister, Secretary General to the Prime Minister, Suranand Vejjajiva, told CNN.
Yingluck's dismissal, which analysts say will only deepen Thailand's protracted political crisis, was brought about by a lawsuit filed by anti-government senators. They accused Yingluck of abusing her power by unlawfully transferring National Security Council chief Thawil Pliensri from his role in September 2011, alleging the move was intended to benefit her Pheu Thai Party and a family member.
Thawil was replaced by the then national police chief, whose role in turn was later given to Priewpan Damapong, a relative of Yingluck.
In March, Thailand's Supreme Administrative Court ruled the transfer unlawful and Thawil was reinstated.
In the wake of the court's ruling, Yingluck thanked her cabinet ministers, government officials and supporters.
"It's been two years, nine months and two days that I worked as prime minister and every day of those two years, nine months and two days was a proud day," she said. "I will always stand by the people."
'More protests and dysfunction'
Analyst Paul Quaglia, director at PQA Associates, a Bangkok-based risk assessment firm, said the development set the scene for "more protests and more dysfunction in the days ahead."
"Her supporters will look at this as what they call a judicial coup, which is one of the red lines they've drawn about all of this," he said.
He said the case against Yingluck were "pretty weak," and that abuse of power was a "pretty grandiose term to describe what went on."
"What she is accused of doing is approving the removal of a military officer from a civil servant's job in 2011. This is pretty routine," he said. "Her supporters of course will view this as a technical pretext by the court simply to get rid of her and get rid of this government."
For the "yellow shirt" political bloc opposed to Yingluck, who came to office in a landslide win in 2011, her ouster would be a welcome cause for celebration, he said.
"It was the last stop on the track for them -- the army had refused to get into it, to stage a coup. They hadn't won any other battles, so it falls to the judiciary to get the job done to get rid of this elected government."
Yingluck defended herself against the charges in court Tuesday. "I didn't do anything against the law," she said. "I have performed my duty in the administration with the intention of benefiting the country."
Yingluck had led a caretaker administration since parliament was dissolved in December, ahead of a general election in February that was disrupted by anti-government protesters. The Constitutional Court subsequently ruled the election invalid.
The protests had been sparked in November by Yingluck's government's botched attempt to pass an amnesty bill that would have paved the way for the return of her brother -- the polarizing former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra -- to the political fray in earnest.
Military coup
Thaksin, a telecommunications tycoon, was overthrown in a military coup in 2006 and has since lived in self-imposed exile to avoid a corruption conviction, which he says is politically motivated. The anti-government protesters, drawn mainly from Bangkok's middle class, royalist establishment, allege that Yingluck is her brother's puppet and seek to rid Thai politics of her family's influence.
In contrast, the "red shirt" supporters of Yingluck and her brother, many of whom are poor and hail mainly from rural areas in the north of the country, accuse the court of bias against their side. Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai political party was dissolved by the court in 2007.
Observers are now watching how both camps, who have large rallies planned in the capital over the coming week, respond to the verdict. Political tensions have occasionally spilled over into deadly violence during the current crisis.
"For the first time in Thailand's history of political discord, we have opposing camps threatening to stage demonstrations in relative proximity to each other in Bangkok," said Quaglia. "We could see some trouble, frankly."
He said the government had been "dealt a blow, but not a fatal blow" by the court. Under the caretaker administration, key infrastructure projects and policy decisions had already been placed on hold until after elections scheduled for July 20.
"We are headed one way or another towards elections at some point. I don't know how peaceful those elections will be or what the landscape will look like between now and July 20," he said.
Yingluck's opponents have campaigned against elections, arguing the alleged corruption of their political rivals meant that widespread reforms were necessary before any meaningful vote could be held, said Quaglia. Anti-government protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, a former deputy prime minister for the Democrat Party, has called for power to be transferred to an unelected "people's council."
"The Pheu Thai Party ... want to have elections. They know they will win those elections. Their opponents, the Democrat Party, say 'No, we can't have elections,' because they know they will lose those elections. Therein lies the rub," said Quaglia.
Yingluck also faces a charge brought by the National Anti-Corruption Commission over a controversial state rice-buying scheme. The commission's ruling is expected this month.
Cargo clue in Korea ferry sinking
5/6/2014 11:00:03 PM
- NEW: Not including the diver, the disaster's death toll rises to 269
- Loosely tied goods helped cause the ship to capsize, investigators say
- Ferry carried more than twice the cargo weight it was allowed, police say
- Diver dies during recovery operation Tuesday
Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- The South Korean ferry disaster that killed more than 260 people last month was caused in part by excessive cargo and a failure to tie that cargo down properly, the joint police and prosecuting team investigating the disaster said Tuesday.
It marked the first time South Korean investigators said what they believe led to the April 16 sinking of the ferry Sewol, which was carrying 467 passengers and crew -- including more than 300 high school students on a field trip -- when it capsized.
Investigators said they've indicted four employees of the ferry's owner, Cheonghaejin Marine Co., in the last two weeks, including a senior executive Tuesday. Details about the charges weren't immediately available.
Authorities took aim at the cargo Tuesday, saying its weight was more than double the ship's limit.
The cargo wasn't tied properly -- and the loosely tied goods helped cause the ship to capsize, senior prosecutor Yang Joong-jin said.
"The lashing devices that should have held cargo goods steady were loose, and some of the crew members did not even know" how to use them correctly, Yang said.
Investigators had been probing the possibility the ship overturned because cargo shifted and forced the ship off balance.
At least 269 people died in the disaster, which happened while the ferry was traveling from Incheon to the resort island of Jeju, off South Korea's southwestern coast. Thirty-five people still are unaccounted for, according to the country's coast guard.
Officials: Firm got $2.9 million for extra cargo since '13
Tuesday's news came nearly a week after South Korean authorities searched Cheonghaejin Marine's offices as part of a criminal investigation.
This trip wasn't the first time the ferry had excess cargo, the joint investigation team said Tuesday.
Since the Sewol began the Incheon-Jeju route in March 2013, the ferry carried excess cargo 139 times, investigators said.
Cheonghaejin Marine earned an extra 62 million South Korean won ($62,000) for the excess cargo on the April 16 voyage, and nearly 3 billion South Korean won ($2.9 million) in extra profit for all of the excess cargo that the ferry carried since March 2013, investigators said.
Diver dies as search for bodies continues
The grim task of retrieving bodies from the sunken ferry was dealt a painful blow Tuesday when an experienced diver lost consciousness and died.
But the nearly 130 divers continued combing the ship despite the loss of their colleague, identified as Lee. His full name was not provided.
Five minutes into his dive, he apparently had problems with his oxygen supply.
"By the time his colleagues went to save him, Lee was unconscious and unable to breathe by himself," government spokesman Koh Myung-suk said.
Lee had been diving for 30 years, officials said.
Since the first day when many escaped the sinking ship, no one has been found alive.
Over the weekend, South Korean President Park Geun-hye visited the port where the rescue operation is based to console families and encourage divers.
Corralling the debris has been difficult for search teams.
Mattresses and clothing from the ship have been found up to 9 miles (15 kilometers) away from the accident site, said Park Seung-ki, a spokesman for the rescue operation.
Large stow and trawler nets will be set up around the sunken ship to catch items that may float away, he said. At the same time, some three dozen ships will be clearing an oil spill from the ferry, which is threatening the livelihood of the local fishermen.
Read: South Korean ferry survivors return to school after classmates' deaths
Read: The images that shocked a nation
Journalist Stella Kim reported from Seoul; CNN's Jason Hanna and Ed Payne wrote in Atlanta
First H5N6 bird flu case dies
5/6/2014 11:31:42 PM
- China confirms first recorded human infection of H5N6 avian flu
- 49-year-old man in Sichuan died Tuesday
- Patient had history of exposure to poultry, health officials believe it was an isolated case
Hong Kong (CNN) -- A 49-year-old man from China is believed to be the world's first human infected with the H5N6 avian flu strain.
The man, who was from Nanbu county in Sichuan province, died Tuesday in a hospital after receiving treatment, according to the Sichuan Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission. He suffered a severe case of pneumonia and was detected to have the H5N6 strain after a throat swab, according to the agency. The man had been exposed to dead poultry.
Medical experts say this an isolated case and that the risk of human-to-human transmission remains low. People who had close contact with the patient did not show any symptoms after medical observation, according to the commission.
Following this latest case, Taiwan issued a travel warning for Sichaun province, advising them to avoid contact with living or dead birds, according to Taiwan's Central News Agency.
The H5N6 is believed to be a low-pathogenic bird flu virus that has been found in Germany, Sweden and United States, according to the Taiwanese news service.
East Asia has seen several bird flu strains infecting humans recently.
In March 2013, a new virus to humans, H7N9 was first reported in China. Since then, 115 people have died and 367 cases of H7N9 have been reported mostly in the country, according to figures from the World Health Organization from February.
H7N9 bird flu resurges in China ahead of Lunar New Year
In May 2013, a 20-year-old woman became the first human to be infected with another bird flu strain called H6N1. The woman had not been exposed to poultry and she recovered after a few days, according to Taiwanese health officials.
In December 2013, China reported the first human case of another avian flu virus, H10N8. The 73-year-old woman from Jiangxi province died. She had a history of contact with live poultry markets, according to the WHO.
Health experts believe that most of these infections are a result of exposure to sickened poultry or contaminated environments.
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